Royal Jelly

Definition: A secretion produced by honey bees that is fed to larvae. Royal jelly is produced in the hypopharyngeal gland of worker bees, which is located in their heads. The royal jelly is fed to all larvae initially. The substance is called royal jelly because it is capable of producing a new queen for the hive. If a queen is needed, the workers feed one larva nothing but royal jelly in large quantities for the first four days of its growth. This triggers the development of fully formed ovaries, which the queen requires to lay eggs.